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Police ID Man Killed In June 11 Shooting

Police are pictured June 11 outside the South Shore Motor Lodge in the town of Dunkirk. The DA’s office and state police on Monday released the name of the 41-year-old man shot to death that morning. File photo

Police continue to investigate the June 11 shooting death of a 41-year-old man whose body was found in the early morning hours outside a town of Dunkirk motel.

Few details had been released in the case, but following an inquiry by The Post-Journal on Monday, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt and the New York State Police identified the victim as Andrew Garner. Schmidt said his office is coordinating with police in the homicide investigation.

Troopers based at the Fredonia police barracks were asked around 2:45 a.m. that morning to check on the welfare of a person at the South Shore Motor Lodge in Dunkirk. Capt. Eric Balon of the state police said at the time that the body of a man had been found by troopers in the parking lot of the 5040 Route 5 property.

The man, identified as Garner, was pronounced dead at the scene by a Chautauqua County coroner. Garner was previously identified as a Jamestown resident though his most recent address was not known.

Balon, also responding to a request for an update in the case, confirmed that Garner was the victim of a homicide and that the Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations was conducting the investigation with the assistance of a “number of local law enforcement agencies.”

No further details, including how many times Garner had been shot or of a possible motive, were released Monday by the state police or DA’s office.

Garner had been facing up to 30 years in state prison after being convicted on a federal charge off conspiracy to distribute cocaine. He was indicted in March 2017 on seven drug-related charges, but a jury acquitted him on the six other counts.

At trial and during an appeal, Garner’s attorney sought a motion for a judgment of acquittal, stating that the evidence did not support the jury’s finding. That motion for acquittal was granted in May 2019 and upheld on appeal in September of last year.

Anyone with information regarding the June 11 shooting is asked to contact the New York State Police at 679-1520.

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